Summary
- SpiceJet’s aircraft was seized at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) after diverting from Dubai International Airport (DXB).
- The seized aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, is owned by Carlyle Aviation Partners and was leased to SpiceJet.
- SpiceJet has been facing financial struggles, including unpaid dues to leasing corporations and maintenance issues with its aircraft.
A SpiceJet aircraft was flying to Dubai International Airport (DXB) on November 30, when it was forced to divert to Dubai’s second and far less busy airport, Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC). The aircraft was only ten minutes away from landing at Dubai International Airport when the aircraft was instructed to divert to DWC. The plane landed safely with no problems. Nevertheless, after passengers deplaned, lessors boarded the aircraft and seized it.
Seizure of an aircraft
The aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 that was registered as VT-SLM. Based on ch-aviation, the aircraft is owned by Carlyle Aviation Partners, who own the aircraft on an operating lease. Originally, this aircraft was delivered to GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes in 2007 and was registered as PR-GGA. In 2016, Carlyle Aviation leased the aircraft to SpiceJet. Since its delivery, the airline has utilized this aircraft for over 20,000 hours, per ch-aviation. Nevertheless, the airline was down for maintenance for nearly all of 2022 and recorded lower than 1,000 flight hours.
Photo: BoeingMan777 | Shutterstock
VT-SLM was operating SG-15, which flies from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (AMD) in Ahmedabad, India, to Dubai International Airport (DXB). The aircraft was diverted to DWC initially as a consequence of an ex-parte order just ten minutes before it was scheduled to land at DXB. Since then, the aircraft has been grounded, per Flightradar24. VT-SLM was scheduled to operate a return flight to Ahmedabad on November 30, and a number of other other flights over the subsequent several days were forced to be canceled.
SpiceJet didn’t immediately respond for comment.
Financial struggles
Several of the airline’s aircraft are leased from Carlyle Aviation. In February this yr, Carlyle Aviation secured a 7.5% stake within the Indian budget airline. The airline converted $100 million in outstanding debt towards Carlyle Aviation into equity shares and compulsorily convertible debentures in SpiceJet’s cargo division, SpiceXpress. The Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh, spoke in regards to the deal, saying,
“Carlyle, a world aviation leader, partnering us will tremendously boost our business and this deal could be a remodeling moment of change and opportunity for us. The transaction will substantially deleverage our balance sheet thereby allowing us to access fresh funds at a competitive rate and we aim to follow suit with other lessors as well within the near term.”
Overall, SpiceJet has had recent issues with lessors regarding the status of a few of its aircraft. In April 2019, the airline flew 76 aircraft in total. Nevertheless, per ch-aviation, SpiceJet only operates 44 aircraft and has an extra 23 aircraft which are marked as inactive. The inactive aircraft are most definitely as a consequence of the struggle that SpiceJet is having to keep up them properly.
Photo: BoeingMan777 | Shutterstock
Recently, the airline has handled several other leasing corporations and unpaid dues. In September, the airline gave greater than 48 million shares to nine different lessors. This helped clear unpaid dues of greater than $28 million. Moreover, SpiceJet was taken to court over dues by two separate lessors. In June, the airline lost the battle in a UK court and was forced to pay out over $15 million to the 2 lessors.